Sibol's DOTA 2 team for the SEA Games anchored on the core by the entire Adriot squad. |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--Surprise! There is not even a single big name in the Philippine team to the Southeast Asian Games's inaugural DOTA 2 event.
In a stunning revelation on Monday, the so-called "faces" of the local DOTA 2 scene, that is, the likes of Carlo Palad, Michael Ross, and Abed Yusop among others, were not named into the Sibol squad for the SEA Games.
However, the entire Team Adroit squad, a team steadily on the rise, was tapped to the national team.
Led by captain Bryle Alvizo, Team Adroit also consists of John Vargas, Mac Villanueva, Jun Kanehara, and Marvin Rushton.
What makes Adroit more interesting is that all of its players hail from Cebu, assuring that the Queen City of the South will be represented in the SEA Games eSports event that will happen at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Only Kanehara's name can be recalled by many Filipino DOTA 2 fans as the offlaner was part of local DOTA 2 strongholds Execration and Clutch Gamers and even Mineski, when it was still an all-Filipino squad.
While not as well-known as the three aforementioned clubs as well as TNC Predator, Adroit made some noise as the team came just two series wins shy of getting a spot in TI9.
Making all the way to the upper bracket finals, Adroit lost to Mineski, which eventually booked a place in Shanghai, in the said playoffs and also bowed to eventual runner-up Jinesbrus in the lower bracket finals that ousted the team from contention.
Backstopping the Adroit core will be Cignal Ultra's Erice Guerra and Van Manalaysay.
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